New York, February 8, 2026, 11:19 (EST) — Market closed.
- Procter & Gamble shares last closed at $159.17, up 59 cents, or 0.4%.
- Traders are watching whether a shift toward defensive, dividend-paying stocks holds into Monday.
- U.S. jobs and inflation data this week, plus P&G’s Feb. 17 dividend, are the near-term dates in focus.
Procter & Gamble shares ended Friday at $159.17, up 59 cents, or 0.37%, and go into Monday with the tape still leaning toward defensive names. The stock traded between $157.59 and $159.97 on the day, with about 10.4 million shares changing hands.
That matters because the last few sessions pushed investors back to a familiar playbook: rotate out of the most volatile corners and into companies with steadier cash flows and regular payouts. P&G sits near the center of that trade, as a heavyweight in household staples and a long-time dividend payer.
The next shove may come from the data. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics has the January employment report scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 8:30 a.m. ET, with the January consumer price index due Friday, Feb. 13 at 8:30 a.m. ET. 1
P&G’s move on Friday came against a broad rebound in U.S. stocks, with the Dow closing above 50,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 rose 1.97% and the Nasdaq gained 2.18% as chipmakers jumped on renewed focus on AI data-center spending; “there’s real demand for AI products,” Baird investment strategy analyst Ross Mayfield said. 2
The bigger backdrop has been a messier kind of “market broadening,” with money chasing cheaper and smaller stocks as investors reassess risk in tech. “We’re instead seeing a wave of aggressive buying of altogether different stocks,” said Tim Murray, a capital markets strategist at T. Rowe Price, while Citigroup’s Scott Chronert said money has moved into “staples and industrials” even as debate rages over AI returns. 3
For P&G, the last major company update came with its fiscal second-quarter results in late January. The company reported net sales of $22.2 billion, with organic sales — which strip out currency swings and deal activity — flat as a 1% price gain was offset by a 1% volume decline; core earnings per share, a profit measure that excludes some one-offs, came in at $1.88. P&G maintained its fiscal 2026 organic sales growth outlook of flat to up 4% and its core EPS growth outlook of flat to up 4%, while estimating about $400 million in after-tax tariff costs for the year. 4
Peers were mixed into the weekend. Clorox rose about 1.5% on Friday, while Colgate-Palmolive fell roughly 0.5%; Kimberly-Clark was little changed and Unilever’s U.S.-listed shares added about 0.8%.
Dividend watchers also have a date. P&G is set to pay $1.0568 per share on Feb. 17, after a Jan. 23 record date, and the company says it has raised its dividend for 68 straight years. At Friday’s close, that works out to an annualized yield of about 2.7%. 5
The week ahead is crowded beyond government data. Earnings are due from consumer names such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, along with Unilever, while Cisco’s report is on the calendar as investors stay sensitive to anything tied to AI infrastructure spending. 6
But the setup is not clean. If jobs or inflation land hotter than expected, bond yields can jump and the “defensive” bid can fade fast, especially in crowded, dividend-heavy trades. P&G also still has to prove it can hold pricing without losing more volume while costs — tariffs included — keep nibbling at margins.
For P&G shares, Monday’s open is the first test after the Dow’s record close. After that, traders circle Feb. 11 for jobs, Feb. 13 for CPI, and Feb. 17 for P&G’s dividend payment.
